Our dog of 16 years old disappeared at the end of her walk

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Our dog of 16 years old disappeared at the end of her walk 48 hours ago. My husband noticed she was not with him after only a few minutes and immediately looked for her. We have searched the woods for 2 days and not found her. She was only a short way from home and usually could find her way home. A friend has suggested she may instinctively have run away to die. Is there any evidence that this does happen

How frightening this is when any dog gets lost but worse when it is a senior.

With an older dog like this they can get confused and lost much like a senior person could.

I am not 100% sure animals 'run off to die' as much as they might have a sudden medical incident while away from their usual area, or that they might get confused and not be able to find their way home even from a familiar area.

She may have pursued that delicous smell and then realized she was lost. She could have gone into the woods and become stuck (collars can do that) or had that be the time an aneurysm burst or a blood clot hit her heart or lungs etc. causing her to pass in an out of sight area. Accidents such as a fall into an area a dog can't get out of (an old well for example or a rocky area) or being locked in a building by someone who didn't know she had entered are other possibilities.

If you have a friend with a dog that she knew you might find her by running another dog in the area. She might respond to the dog or the dog might find her or her body.

I'd suggest making up a picture poster of her if you can and give it to all the neighbors plus post it at the local store area and with local vets, mail carriers, and police in your area asking to be notified if she is seen.

Post a lost notice on www.craigslist.org in the pets area and check it for any found notices. www.petfinder.com has an area where you can post missing pets in the classified ads area too.

As she is deaf and can't hear your calls you might try making some strong scent posts to try to lure her to them so you can find her. Take sweaty socks or t-shirts and soak in a bucket of water overnight. Then use the water to make scent marks along a trail to help her nose find you if she is out there wandering.

But with her heart issue it may be that she passed on while out there enjoying herself but out of your view.

I would keep the search up for another week and then if there have been no sightings of her you may have to decide she passed on while out having her fun walk with you.

I can tell you I got one dog back after she was missing three weeks in the country side (scent markers kept her in an area where we finally found her 3 miles from home) and posters got me back my missing cat after 6 weeks when she was 5 miles from home!

Even out in the country neighbors may see what you miss so the more you notify the better odds that someone might see something to help you find her or at least find her remains so you don't have to worry any more.

What I would do is scent areas with a good spritz of water along the ground. You might scent areas or lay a trail.

Its better to leave scent along a shadier part of a trail as it will stay longer than in the direct sun. You can probably do a scent at least 20 feet apart and you can also step in the damp spot and walk towards home leaving the scent from your shoe along the track.

Some people crush a hot dog to make an aromatic scent trail and walk along and drop a small bit of hot dog along the trail. Dogs have a great abilitly to scent odors and you'd want to scent the furthest out spot first and then add scent spots on your way home. That makes the scent stronger in the direction of home as it will be on the ground less time in the homeward direction.

You might make a soaked spot along a couple different trails you can check back to to see if the dog will hang around there where your odor is.

Also a food trail may work. Make a scent spot of your odor and then bring some dog kibble or chunked up hot dog bits along and drop some there and make a trail back home with bits of food along the way.

I'm sure you've seen your dog's nose drag her off so you know it works well - the key is to give her some guideposts to find home again if she is lost.

I can say what was most useful to me was putting out a flyer asking for people to call me if they thought they saw the missing animal. Having an idea of a direction a pet is moving or an area its been seen can be a big help.

any idea of how a dog will manage outside overnight when used to being inside - in my daugheters bed at night!!

also we are having quite a lot of disruption as kitchen has been ripped out and house ijn a bit of chaos - do you think this could have upset her? Also my one daughetr set off travelling on her gap year a week ago and wonder if these changes have upset her?

I try to keep an open mind about anything that might work so while I'm skeptical about the psychic choice it appears to work for some.

Yes all the disruptions might make her stressed and stress could contribute to her being lost or impact her heatlh. Also with the stress on the humans a change in medical condition might have been missed.

But if she normally sleeps with your daughter and your daughter is gone she might be looking for her. You might look in the direction of the transport the daughter took on the first leg of her trip.

Dogs can do pretty well in temps above freezing. They normally know how to curl into a ball in a protected area to stay as warm as possible. Labs are designed to handle cool temps as they are meant to go into pretty cold water to fetch ducks. Yes she is a senior and so more at risk but she is a good sized dog and they do better in the cold than a tiny one might. If it was below zero that would be a bigger concern.

At least in the UK you don't have the worries I have here - coyotes and other predators view housepets as a very convenient nutrition source and this time of year, with them feeding young, they get quite bold!

You can come back and reply on this question and I'll respond to you even after you accept - barring me being offline which my family and animals all claim I must do from time to time :) and then I'll reply when I'm back on the pc!

You might go out and stay in one spot and call for a while. That will pool your scent in the area and let her zero in if she can hear you at all. And if she is moving and you are moving you could miss each other so staying in a vantage point if you can find one might let you spot her.

Watch also for any unusual wild life activity - some birds like ravens and crows will move in on a deceased animal and be active in the area.

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